“No, it wasn’t the plan, but here I am,” chuckles Anna McCortney, operations manager, Ultimate Flooring. Like so many in the flooring industry, McCortney fell into it but quickly found a passion for the business. Her father took over the business in 2021 from her uncle who founded it in 2006. The multi-generational business is now finding ways to bring in and train the next generation of flooring professionals. 

Enter Sam Robinson. 

Robinson began babysitting for McCortney her sophomore year of high school. “I would help Anna with little stuff around the office, and like her, I fell in love with it and wanted to stick around even when they didn't need me as a babysitter anymore,” she said. 

The two quickly realized they could share what they are learning with other graduates from the Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates program that Robinson completed. In an effort to further their own education journeys, they found creative ways to get to The International Surface Event and Coverings. 

The following are excerpts of our conversation, which you can listen to in its entirety below.

Floor Trends & Installation: Sam, talk about the Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates (JOG) program that you went through. What's the purpose of the program and how has it benefitted you?

Sam Robinson: I started the program my freshman year of high school. It's a program for low-income students to give you work experience and a little bit of financial literacy. My parents got divorced right before my freshman year of high school and me and my mom were on our own with basically nothing. I was in it for about a year before I started officially working here and really JOG is the reason that I was able to work here because Mike (owner) wasn't really ready to take on a new employee. I was able to talk to my JOG mentor, and we were able to get it worked out that I could do the summer work program here. That's how I ended up being able to find a more permanent place here, and I feel like I owe my entire career to JOG. I want to give back in any way that I can because it's gotten me where I am. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Anna, what are your plans going forward with this program in terms of bringing in new talent into the flooring industry? 

Anna McCortney: We're never going to stop working with [JOG]. This year, we're the Employer of the Year for Jobs for Ohio Graduates. We honestly just want to grow a relationship as much as we can and help teach students that there's more to flooring than installation and sales. 

You can learn marketing. You can learn design. You never know how someone's talent is going to fit in. So, every year we're hoping to take on more students and see how we can fit them into the industry and bring in the youth. 

It's my hope to try my best to bridge the gap between the Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates program and the educational programs in the industry because there are not a lot of young people in our industry. I'm sure that there are a lot of other kids out there who have never even considered this as a path. I'm just trying to do my part to try to connect the dots between them and try to get more people involved in it because I do think that it’s something that could help everybody involved. 

Floor Trends & Installation: You decided to fundraise to get yourselves to TISE this year and your approach was very creative. You created a video that mimics Shark Tank. How did you come up with this idea? 

Robinson: We were going to do an office-themed video. We were just trying to come up with, honestly, anything that could get us there. There was a TikTok trend, convincing people to do stuff in the Shark Tank style. I [thought], let's do it that way. 

We just wanted it to be funny and memorable. It didn't get a lot of donations, but it was definitely memorable. We got recognized for it a few times. I guess it kind of worked. He was like, no, it's good. You're memorable. But. Well, kind of walk because everybody's listening. 

The concept was that our reps and vendors were the Sharks. We were really just trying to reach them for the most part. It was not meant to go to the entire industry, but that is where it ended up. We were mainly trying to convince our reps to help us get there and continue our education so that we could continue to support them. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Did anyone answer the call? 

McCortney: We had one person, well, three people total. We had someone from Women In the Flooring Industry (WIFI). We had “B-Rad” (Brad Steenbergen), who is the COO/CFO of Bishop Distributing. He's been supporting us since day one. Stephanie from CDC; they donated to our travels. They gave us a total of $150. But it got us there. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What was the first trip to TISE like? As first-timers, what did you think? 

McCortney: When we first got there, it was overwhelming. It was crazy overwhelming because we're in Vegas. We don't know where we're going. We know no one there. We're just winging it. Our first day, we did the CFI technical training for Carpet and LVP. We met a few people there to show us around and teach us where we should be and what we should be doing and what we should learn. The people that we met, they've all stayed with us. It's all been lasting connections, not just a one and done thing. 

I think [the show] was amazing. It's crazy to see how many different things are available. We walked 42 miles while we were there, and we stayed inside the convention center the whole entire time. There's so many different products that you can look at and tools. It gave us a lot of ideas, too, on marketing and how to frame stuff for our customers. 

Floor Trends & Installation: You also committed to Coverings. You were first- timers there as well. Tell me what that experience was like. 

McCortney: I feel like Coverings was more like walking into a big family. We had David Arnott and Jana Falafuco showing us around and introducing us to everyone they could possibly introduce us to. 

Robinson: It definitely was as big and as chaotic [as TISE], but it felt so much less overwhelming because we had the right people there with us and everybody was welcoming us with open arms. It was a lot less scary. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What were some of the takeaways from that show that you'll bring back and implement into your business? 

McCortney: There were so many great things from that show because all of the classes were completely free. We went to every single class we could go to. I feel like the women's roundtables were really helpful because we were with people from all over the country. We were getting everyone's ideas and what everyone's doing rather than a small circle like when we're with distributors. 

Floor Trends & Installation: Now that you've attended both shows, are you planning to go back next year? 

McCortney: The plan is to go back. Engineered Floors is helping us out on our next travels for next year. At the end of the year, they're taking our sales and giving us a percentage back. That way we're able to continue our education and go to the shows. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What are you excited about in terms of building your business and bringing in the new generation of flooring pros? 

Robinson: I'm really excited to keep mentoring students and getting them more and more involved as the years go on and seeing what we can teach them and pass along. 

McCortney: When you have young students here, they have ideas that we would never think of. Their ideas might be off the wall, but they are good ideas a lot of times, and everyone comes from a different background and has different interests. So, taking their interests and implementing them into our business, that's the biggest thing that we're doing with them. 

Floor Trends & Installation: What would you say to someone who's considering flooring as a career option? 

Robinson: I would say just try it because no matter where you step into the industry, there's always going to be someone who wants to guide you, and there's going to be incredible connections that you can make. You'll meet incredible people, whether you decide to stay in flooring or not, and you're going to make lasting connections that will shape you inside and out of the industry.